Most Beautiful Places In The World # Part 4

Most Beautiful Places In The World

Bagan, Myanmar

A herd of cattle trods the earth with the pagoda spires of Bagan in the dusky background. The ancient capital of Myanmar (Burma)—and a sight to rival Cambodia’s Angkor Wat—Bagan once held 13,000 pagodas dating back to the second century A.D.

Photograph by Zay Yar Lynn, National Geographic Your Shot

Larung Gar, China

Streetlamps light a path through a dense population of small homes with red roofs in Larung Gar, in the Garzé Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, China. Some 10,000 nuns and monks live here, settled around one of the largest Buddhist institutes in the world.

Photograph by Lei He, National Geographic Your Shot

Sant’Alessio Castle, Sicily

A long and winding road leads to Sicily’s Sant’Alessio Castle, perched above the Ionian Sea in Messina. Nearby is the commune of Sant’Alessio Siculo, lined with beaches and old-world charm.

Photograph by SIME/eStock Photo

Cerro Negro Volcano, Nicaragua

Suited up in protective gear, tourists “ash board” down Nicaragua’s Cerro Negro Volcano. The activity is a highlight of an adventure travel tour that visits the volcano, the youngest in Central America.

Photograph by Luca Zanetti, laif/Redux

Sand Surfing the Sahara

A sand surfer is dwarfed by colossal dunes in the Sahara near the Siwa Oasis in northwestern Egypt. The massive desert is traversed by endless rows of dunes called barchans (“crescent-shaped dunes” in Turkic). Barchans are found on the edge of sand seas and form when the wind blows steadily from one direction.

Photograph by Thomaz Napoleão

Durdle Door, England

The natural arch known as the Durdle Door juts out into the English Channel along England’s Jurassic Coast. The 94-mile stretch of fossil-studded cliffs and rocky shores in East Devon and Dorset was declared a World Heritage site in 2001. Among its claim to fame: Stones used in the building of the Tower of London came from here.

Photograph by Alex Hibbert, Corbis

Afrikaans Language Monument, South Africa

Visitors snap a photo at the Taalmonument, or Afrikaans Language Monument, on Paarl Mountain in South Africa’s Western Cape. The monument was created to recognize the Asian, European, and African roots of Afrikaans.

Photograph by Graeme Williams, Panos Pictures

Hoh Rain Forest, Washington

Moss-covered spruces and hemlocks dwarf visitors in the Hoh Rain Forest, part of Olympic National Park in Washington State. One of the country’s finest remaining stretches of temperate rain forest, the Hoh is a popular tourist attraction.

Photograph by Edmund Lowe Photography, Getty Images

Huaraz, Peru

A food stall does lively business after dark in Huaraz, Peru. Huaraz, the capital of the Ancash region, is a popular jumping-off spot for adventurers looking to ski and climb the Cordillera Blanca.

Photograph by Heiko Meyer, laif/Redux

Inside the Vatican

Early on Easter Monday, a nun finds a quiet moment in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. St. Peter’s—the church built over the tomb of the Apostle Peter—is the center of Roman Catholicism. The first church here for which records survive was begun around A.D. 326.